Nature Notes

Monday July 3 Relaxing in Provincetown with Susan, enjoying the view. Still seeing a few common eiders in the bay, the very, very southern tip of their breeding range. Most of their eider buddies are way up north, along the northern coast of North America and Greenland.  I see the appeal of just staying here, not bothering with the long migration. Spectacular, practically glowing, amber red buck moon this evening. A supermoon, the closest the full moon comes to the earth in its elliptical orbit, making it appear larger and brighter than a typical full moon. So amazing that nearly everyone on the restaurant deck where we were finishing dinner excitedly got up to take photos of it rising over the water. As did we. Watching for a few minutes, we saw it appear and then disappear behind horizontal layers of clouds low on the horizon. I'm always amazed that within a few minutes, you can actually see it rising in the night sky. The NY Times had photos of it from around the world the n...

Friday June 2 On our morning walk, just around the corner from the house, we saw a nuthatch parked on the sidewalk, not moving, not even when Maddie got within a few feet.  At first I thought it must be a juvenile or injured, but it flew off after a minute or so, and looking up nuthatch photos on the web, it seems it was an adult.  After breakfast, I biked along the Emerald Necklace, enjoying the warm sun of late spring, the trees all leafed out, flowers blooming everywhere.  Wonderful. As I went by the Muddy River, I noticed this turtle perched over a hole she had dug in soft dirt. I've seen turtles laying eggs around here before at this time of year so I stopped to take a closer look and there it was: a spherical white egg dropping into the hole; you can just see it on her left side in the first second of the video. And it's the time of year when Mass Art and Design puts on their outdoor sculpture show along the Muddy River, so I thought I'd include this, too. Monday J...